The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-11-25

upon. The contribution to the sinking
fund which furnishes the occasion for ex-
penditure In the purchase of bonds has
been already made for the current year,
so that there IL no outlet in that direction.
In the present state Of legislation the
only pretense OF any existing executive
| power to restore, at this time, any part
! Of our surplus revenues 10 the people by
its expenditure consists in the suppose
ton that the secretary of the treasury
may enter the market and purchase the
bonds OF the government not yet due at q
rate of premium to be agreed upon. The
only provision of law from which such q
power could be derived is found in an
appropriation bill passed q number of
years ago; and it is subject to the suspi-
cion that il was
Intended as Temporary and Limited
in its application, instead of comforting
q continuing discretion and authority.
No condition ought to exist which would
justify the grant of power to single
official, upon his Judgment of its Ieces-
sity, to withhold from or release to the
business of the people, in an unusual
manner, money held in the treasury, and
thus affect, at his win, the financial situ-
alton of the country; and if it is deemed
wise TO lodge in the secretary of the
treasury the authority in the present
iuncture to purchase bonds, it should be
plainly vested, and provided as far as
possible with such checks and limitations
as will define this officials right and dis
erection, and at the same time relieve him
from undue responsibility.
In considering the question of purchase
H.. -
culatiOn the surplus money accumulat-
ing in the treasury, it should be borne in
mind that premiums must of course be
paid upon such purchase, that there may
be large part Of these bonds held as In
vestments which cannot be purchased at
any price, and that combinations among
holders who are willing to sell, may un-
reasonably enhance the cost Of these
bonds to the government
1t has been suggested that the present
bonded debt might be refunded at
less rate of interest, and the difference
between the old and the new security
paid in cash, thus finding use for the sur
plus in the treasury. The success of this
plan, it is apparent, must depend upon
the volition of the holders of the present
bonds; and il is not entirely certain that
the inducement which must be offered
them would result in more financial bene-
fit to the government than the purchase
of bonds, while the latter proposition
would reduce the principal of the debt
by actual payment instead of extend
ing it.
The Proposition to Deposit Money
held by the government in banks
throughout the country for use by the
raopla ic II caans IN ma aveaad;noIxy oh
jectionable in principle, as establishing
too close a relationship between the oper-
atiOns of the government treasury and
the business of the country, and too ex.
tensive commanding of their money,
thus fostering an unnatural reliance in
private business upon public funds. II
this scheme should be adopted it should
only be done as q temporary expedient to
meet an urgent necessity. Legislative
and executive effort should generally be
in the opposite direction, and should have
tendency to divorce, as much and as
fast as can safely be done, the treasury
department from private enterprise.
OF course it is not expected that unnec-
essary and extravagant appropriations
will be made for the purpose of avoiding
the accumulation of an excess of revenue.
Such expenditure beside the demoraliza-
ton of all Just conceptions of public duty
which IL entails, stimulates habit of
reckless improvidence not in the least
consistent with the mission of our people
or the high and beneficient purposes of
onr government
have deemed it my duty to to thus
bring to the -knowledge of my country
men, as well as to the attention of their
representatives charged with the respon-
sibility of legislative relief, the gravity of
our financial situation. The failure of
congress heretofore to provide against
the dangers which it was quite evident
the very nature of the difficulty must
necessarily produce, caused condition
of financial distress and apprehension
since your last adjournment, which taxed
to the utmost all the authority and ex-
pedients- within executive control, and
these appear now TO be exhausted. II
disaster results from the continued mac
ton Of congress, the responsibility
Must Rest where it Belongs
Though the situation thus far con-
sidered is fraught with danger which
should be fully realized, and though it
presents features of wrong to the people
as well as peril to the country, il is but a
result growing out of aperfectly palpable
and apparent cause, constantly reproduc-
ing the same alarming circumstances, a
congested national treasury and depleted
monetary condition in the business of the
country 1t need hardly be stated that
while the present situation demands n
remedy, we can only be saved from like
predicament in the future by the removal
! of its cause.
Our scheme of taxation, by means of
which this needless surplus is taken
from the people and placed in the public
treasury, consists of tariff or duty
levied upon importations from abroad
and internal revenue taxes levied upon
the consumption of tobacco and spirit
uous and malt liquors 1t must be con-
coded that none of the thiAgs subjected
| to internal revenue taxation are, strictly
speaking, necessaries; there appears TO
be no just complaint of this taxation by
the consumers of these articles, and there
seems 10 be nothing so well able 10 bear
| the burden without hardship to any por-
ton of the people.
But our present tariff laws the vicious,
inequitable and illegal source of unnec.
essary taxation, ought to be at once re-
yised and amended These laws as their
primary and plain effect, raise the price
to consumers of all articles imported and
| subject to duty by precisely the sum paid
! for such duties. Thus the amount of the
duty measures the tax paid by those who
purchase for use these imported
4 Al, II III